Amazon rolls out streaming Video On Demand store

Although it’s still in beta (read: bugs galore), we’re pretty excited about the new Amazon Video On Demand streaming media store. Launched this morning, the service provides customers access to a wide collection of content, boasting over 40,000 titles with plans to expand even further in the coming months. Unlike services like iTunes that download massive files directly to your hard drive, Amazon streams the media from its servers, delivering a near instant-on solution. As Amazon’s VP of Digital Media says, “For the first time, this is drop dead simple.” It’s a bold statement, and we’d wager that there are still a number of appealing alternatives out there, but if this plays out anything like the company’s entry into the DRM-free music market, it should prove to be a formidable competitor to the current leaders.